Not to be outdone, the PhoCusWright Conference has released its iPhone app available for download now through the App Store. The PhoCusWright iPhone app was developed by Quickmobile, a firm based in Vancouver, BC who specializes in the development of mobile applications. I have known the CEO, Patrick Payne, for a few years and we have had the opportunity to meet at a number of travel industry conferences during that time.... Read More

What you missed on Tnooz this week, Sunday 8 November to Saturday 14 November 2009. Read on to see the most commented articles, every other article this week, and the most commented articles of all time...... Read More

Private equity has returned to travel with news that Hellman and Friedmann has purchased Dublin-based Web Reservations International, the budget accommodation booking service better known for its consumer brand Hostelworld. WRI is not disclosing the fee paid for the company by H&F but some reports in the Irish media suggest a figure in the region of round Euro 200 million has changed hands. Deals of this size in travel and travel technology have been rare since the major PE-led takeovers of the GDSs.... Read More

Sydney and California-based TourAbout has partially opened the doors to its new social distribution system, launching in private beta and expecting a public beta launch in January 2010. The system works by allowing tour operators and activity providers to interact directly with potential customers through a number of unusual processes. One of the primary ways is through a question and answer platform where visitors can throw a query into the system and any product provide can reply.... Read More

Travel technology beast Amadeus is developing its own consumer flight concierge app for the Apple iPhone after cracking down on an individual app developer who used the company's data to build his own. Amadeus is planning to launch its first flight planning app in the first quarter of 2010 and will include a number of the features included in what it appears to have to considered to be a naughty interloper of a system. MyFlightsApp launched in August 2009 and included such tools as a portal to store booking details, aircraft information, confirmation numbers and the ability to compile lists of multiple trips.... Read More

Hot off the press and UK-only, but some interesting data out of the eDigitalResearch shop this week which reveals the extent of the economic crisis on travel patterns in 2009. The Traveller Attitude and Behaviour survey of almost 1,200 consumers across the UK found that 30% are not intending on making any formal holiday plans - an increase of 7% when a similar question was asked in July this year. A fifth of those questioned in the survey said they decided to take a UK holiday in 2009 and around the same number said they spent less on an overseas trip.... Read More

TravelMuse has broken with convention and appears to be the only travel company this autumn not talking about Twitter. The California-based travel guide and trip planning website today launched a series of new features which utilise Facebook, rather than everyone's favourite micro-blogging service Twitter. The suite of tools include a trip recommendation tool, account syncing system through Facebook Connect and a new Facebook app allowing users to create trips or get advice from friends and connections.... Read More

After a tiff that went public less than a month ago, Choice Hotels and Expedia Inc. reached a new three-year agreement, which should have the hotel franchisor's properties back on Expedia's and hotels.com's more than 80 websites within a week or so. And, Choice-affiliated properties that want to participate in Expedia's opaque channel, Hotwire, will be able to do so a later juncture, the companies stated. From all outward appearances, it looks like Choice Hotels, despite its bluster, is the party that blinked in this skirmish, which seemingly revolved around last-room availability and rate parity.... Read More

Eighteen entrepreneurs pitched a diverse range of new travel companies at this year's Get Funded Show taking place during World Travel Market (London). Entries ranged from mobile startups through to trip planning, holiday home rental and new airlines. And the winner is....... Read More

Here is some advice for the customer service challenged. Travel and self service should be made for each other. In most cases they are. However there is a significant disconnect of what to do when a user reaches a problem/issue that he cannot resolve himself.... Read More

Tnooz’s ten-part series Understand and Boosting Ancillary Revenue concluded this week. The articles were written by Janet Titterton of Collinson Latitude. Each day we featured a different approach t... Read More

I get paid, in part, to speculate, so here goes: First, the facts. The board of Travelport Ltd. named Gordon Wilson deputy CEO of the company, effective Nov. 5. Wilson, 43, who's been with the company for almost half his life, will retain his current position as President and CEO of Travelport GDS, as well as IT Services and Software.... Read More

In the days of Web-only fares on airline websites in the U.S., traditional travel agents moaned that airlines were basically screwing themselves with this kind of supplier-direct discounting because the travel agency/global distibution system channel is among the highest-yielding distribution options. After a period of abstinence, JetBlue re-entered GDSs in 2007, participates in the four major systems today, and views this involvement as a way to enhance its mix of corporate-travel bookings. JetBlue's strategy was highlighted with Travelport's announcement today of a new, multi-year, global full-content agreement with JetBlue.... Read More

TripAdvisor’s acquisition of Kuxun.cn, China’s No.2 travel search engine, kicked off its ambitious investment plan of US$50 million in China’s burgeoning tourism market over the next two years. Kuxun will join many other Expedia-owned online travel companies in challenging China’s number one online travel company, Ctrip, whose market share is five times bigger than that of its nearest rival. These include eLong (China’s number two online travel agency, acquired by Expedia in 2004), Daodao (the recently launched Chinese travel-review website, owned by TripAdvisor), and Egencia China (the travel management unit).... Read More

Tnooz is very excited to be involved a survey produced by pan-European digital marketing agency BigMouthMedia. The questionnaire is designed to gauge the industry's use of online media, marketing techniques, innovation in travel and predicted trends for 2010. Taking just five minutes to complete, each participant will also be sent their own copy of the final report in late-November.... Read More